The Game of Life
by Summerrainstorm
Summary: Life can seem like a game with a missing rule book. Some people get ahead, others fall behind. But it's whether you are smart and can find your way to the end that really matters. P.S. Just in case, the cover photo was made by Connett off of deviant art.


**Okay, please don't kill me for not updating any of my stories- I've been being slowly murdered by a criminal named "Writer's Block" and couldn't think of anything. But, I finally escaped and decided that I would write a Vocaloid fan fiction!**

…**I know. I'm sorry if it sucks. ~**

**I (sadly) don't own any of the UTAUloids or Vocaloids in this story. I just own my O.C. Yume and the plot!**

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"The game of life is like the game of boomerangs, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy."

~ Florence Skinner

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A teal- haired girl pants as she rounds a corner. Her blue-green eyes were wide with fear and her face had a light sheen of sweat covering it. She looks down the hallway to the double doors at the end that would lead her outside and to safety.

'_If I can make it there, I'll be fine,'_ she thinks.

She hears loud, clunking footsteps echoing though the hallway and she begins to breath harder. She rushes forward towards her sanctuary, but trips over a large green textbook. Her pursuer rounds the corner, his long purple hair swishing around him. He wore a crazy grin and a simple black mask over half of his face.

"Why are you running from me, Miku? You can't make it out of the labyrinth without me to escort you," he says, walking forward with her. His eyes were wild and Miku's eyes widen as she scrambles backward.

Miku screams as the figure reaches her, and everything goes dark.

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A red-head blows her bangs out of her face as her blonde friend complains about one of their classmates. The two were sitting in their homeroom class, struggling to hear one another over their chattering classmates.

"I swear, he'll chase anything in a skirt," Rin says in disgust as the two watch a blonde boy try to hit on a brown haired girl.

Obviously his pick-up line and whistling didn't appeal to her, because she hit his head with her folder before stomping off to her group of friends.

"Ah, Meiko, you're not worth my time anyways," Len says and narrowly misses the small pink eraser that was chucked at his face.

"He's so stupid," Rin says, glaring at him while he turns to talk to his blue haired best friend.

"You've never even talked to him. Don't judge a book by it's cover," her friend advises wisely. Rin rolls her eyes.

"Can your wisdom, Yume. I can't even _begin_ to judge his cover because he's always changing it."

"I'm guessing you're meaning all of his girlfriends?" Yume asks and Rin nods, exaggerating her movements.

"Yes. It's like he gets a new one every week," Rin says, frowning. "He's such an idiot."

Yume nods as she hears the classroom door open. Everyone immediately scrambles to their desks whenever they see that it's Ms. Megurine and her daughter, Luka.

Luka hurries to the desk in front of Rin as Ms. Megurine steps behind her desk and begins to grade papers. Both Luka and Ms. Megurine looked extremely tired, and Yume couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

Having a grudge against Luka for no apparent reason caused Rin to silently groan whenever Luka turned around to face them.

"What's on little Miss Perfect's mind today?" she asks and Luka looks a bit startled, as if awoken from a trance.

Choosing to ignore Rin's comment, Luka rubs her eyes and glances from Rin to Yume and back.

"Did either of you hear about the disappearance of Miku?" Luka asks, yawning.

"What are we, police officers?" Rin asks snidely and Yume frowns.

"No… What happened?" Yume asks a bit cautiously, curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"Apparently she was kidnapped by someone who calls himself the "Phantom of the Opera". He tricks girls by sending them secret admirer notes, telling them to meet him in the Theatre room after school, where he kidnaps and kills them," Luka says as she plays with a piece of her pink hair.

"That… that's so creepy," Yume murmurs timidly and Luka nods in agreement as Rin scoffs.

"'Phantom of the Opera'? How lame," Rin says and shrugs. "That's why I make it a point to trust no one but my best friend and my family."

"Aw, thank you Rin," Yume says softly, smiling. Rin merely waves her off, acting indifferent.

"How do you know this?" Yume asks Luka. "Like the note thing?"

"My father is a police officer," Luka says. "There was a victim a few months ago that managed to report the case to the police, and the surrounding areas had been alerted. The case is top secret, but there will be a news story tonight on the news about Miku's death and funeral arrangements."

"I think we should go check it out," Rin says with a grin. "We can catch him and be super heroes!"

"No thank you," Yume says, shaking her head. "I appreciate my life."

Rin chuckles and rolls her eyes. "Chicken~"

Yume opens her mouth to protest when Ms. Megurine stands up, signaling the start of class.

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Yume giggles as she walks alongside Gumi from math to the lunchroom.

"Did he really ask you that?" Gumi asks and Yume nods.

"Yes. Kaito's funny," Yume says, thinking back to the boy's question. It was from earlier that morning, but she remembered that it had something to do with ice cream.

The two continue laughing until Gumi bumps into someone. She stops laughing and looks at the blonde girl, who had been thrown back onto her butt. Her phone and large green textbook slides across the hall and she scrambles after it. She stands up and glares at Gumi and Yume. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying.

'_Probably because of Miku… She was her best friend, after all,'_ Yume thinks.

"I'm sorry, Neru," Gumi says as the girl blows her bangs out of her face.

"Whatever," she says, stomping away. Gumi frowns but says nothing, and the two continue to the lunchroom.

Whenever they enter, they immediately see Len sucking face with some random girl. Yume makes a disgusted face while Gumi pretends not to notice it and looks around. She finally spots Rin sitting alone at a table, looking bored. Grabbing Yume's arm, she drags her off towards the table.

"Hey Rin!" Gumi says as they two sit down.

"Oh, hello," Rin says, yawning. "Gumi, did you hear about the "Phantom of the Opera"?"

"Phantom…?" Gumi asks and Rin launches into the explanation. Yume sighs and glances around, looking for Piko. She spots him and smiles softly, watching him eat his lunch slowly and quietly.

"Done stalking?" Rin asks and Yume jumps.

"I wasn't stalking!" Yume protests and Rin just laughs.

"Sure~" she says, dragging out the word in exaggeration. Yume sighs and rolls her eyes, glancing back over at Piko. He looks up at her and her eyes widen before she looks away, embarrassed at being caught.

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Yume groans as she carries her heavy textbooks home.

'_I can't believe the amount of textbooks I have…' _she thinks as she walks down the sidewalk towards her house. _'It's ridiculous to carry them around all of the time.'_

A bush on the side of the sidewalk rustles as Yume walks by and she yelps. Teto steps out of the bush with a smile on her face. Twigs were in her hair and she had a dirt smear on her cheek. She was carrying a grey cat and Yume gives her an odd look.

Yume sneezes and steps back a bit before asking, "…Uh, Teto? Why do you have a cat?"

"It's a secret," Teto says before walking off happily in the opposite direction.

Dumbfounded, Yume sneezes again and shakes her head before continuing to walk. She walks up to a relatively large house and opens the white picket fence. Roses decorate the outside and Yume opens the large wooden door and steps inside her home.

Once inside, Yume walks down the entrance hall and turns to the left to enter the living room. Her mother and sister were sitting on the couch, solemn expressions on their faces. Yume frowns and sets her school bag against the wall before walking over and standing behind the couch. She leans on the back and looks up at the television, which was playing a news report on the recent kidnappings and deaths of teenage girls. The report echoes throughout the large living room and Yume frowns.

"…last night, the body of Hatsune Miku was found in a garbage bin at the back of Aikawa High School. Police say that she was murdered by the infamous "Phantom of the Opera" because a small slip of paper with the drama masks was left stapled to the girl's forehead…"

Yume flinches as they show a picture of Miku. Starting to feel sick, Yume takes a seat and looks at the floor. Her mother turns off the television and looks at the uncomfortable Yume.

"You knew this girl, right?" she asks Yume, frowning slightly.

"Vaguely," Yume says as she stares at her feet.

Her mother starts in on a lecture on how easily teenagers can be manipulated and how important it is to be careful, and Yume's mind drifts off. She thinks of how Miku had been bragging in class to Neru and her other friends that she received a secret admirer's note. She was no stupid girl, but she surely had seen the news reports right? Apparently the killer had moved from the Kantō regions down southward, creeping closer to their hometown with each passing month. Yume had thought nothing of it, but now it all made sense. Sure, they hadn't said anything about the whole secret admirer's note thing, but you'd think she'd be a little bit suspicious… No, there was no way she could've known. Plus, it didn't help that she got love confessions often.

"…or you'll surely die," Yume's mother finishes and stands up. "Aimi, would you like to come help me with dinner?"

"Sure Mommy!" Aimi, Yume's six year old sister, says and jumps up.

Yume snaps out of her reverie and trudges up the staircase and down the hallway to her room. She opens the door and is immediately hit with a rush of cold air. She had left her fan on. She sighs and shivers as she crosses her room and turns it off, then sits in her swivel chair at her wooden desk. She drops an old chip bag into the small garbage can and pulls out a stack of white computer paper and a mechanical paper.

She boots up her laptop and waits patiently as the trill sounds, then hurries and logs on to her Vocalization page.

'_I'll just be on for a minute…' _she thinks, looking around. She had a notification and clicked on the button, then squeals. _'Piko sent me a request!'_

While she does a mini-dance in her chair, she clicks accept and grins. Finally he had sent her a request! After a few minutes of looking around on his page, she logs off and looks down at the papers in front of her. On it were rough sketches of what looked to be a manga.

'_I will be discovered one day!'_ she thinks, starting to work on her drawings. Outside, the sun had already began to set.

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Dark purple hair swishes around a large black trench coat as the Phantom stands outside his next victim's house. A large grin breaks out on his face as he starts climbing the trellis outside the second story window.

Careful to be quiet, he slides through the open window and into the room. The sleeping male's chest rises up and down as he sleeps, and the Phantom takes a few steps forward, his knife glinting in the moonlight streaming in through the window.

He lifts his arms and plunges it down in one swift movement before stapling a slip of paper to the boy's head and exiting the room, not making a sound.

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**Aaand… there it is! Yay! There was… at least two song references in this chapter, so see if you can pick them out! If you'd like, click the review button and leave me criticism or whatever! Thanks for reading and I hoped you liked it! Feel free to ask any questions, whether it be via PM or review! Happy writing~**


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